Jim Bernstein Mentor Program
BACKGOUND: Jim Bernstein was a model mentor for many leaders in the national rural health movement in the United States. During his 35 year career he formed the first state office of rural health, helped rural communities across North Carolina provide health services and served as president of the National Rural Health Association.
In 2005 the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services (NACRHHS) recognized his efforts to improve health care in rural communities throughout his life and until his death in 2005. A NACRHHS resolution states that "Throughout his life, Jim remained an innovator and a motivator, helping local leaders and communities to come together to find local-based solutions to their health care problems. Rare is the leader who so many would claim as mentor and friend."
His work had impact not just in his home state of North Carolina, but across the country. His gift to everyone was the time and energy he took to mentor. He inspired hundreds of people and helped to create the next generation of rural health leaders. "What was magic about Jim was that he could work with such a wide breadth of people," said Nancy Lane, a health care management consultant. "He encouraged people to tackle the impossible, all the while making it look like lots of fun and an adventure."
The Jim Bernstein Mentoring Program has been developed to recognize not only Jim but the qualities of many of the early leaders of the State Office of Rural Health movement, who have been notable in not needing or seeking recognition. This program will cultivate the next generation of rural health leaders. Like Jim, these leaders were masters of change. They knew how to work within existing policy frameworks and built sustainable programs that addressed long-standing problems. It is this capacity that the Jim Bernstein Mentoring Program will strive to grow.
State Offices of Rural Health are encouraged to utilize the resources of the mentoring program to grow the qualities, abilities, skills and activities which were characteristic of Jim Bernstein's champion leadership:
- capacity to see and share the "big picture"
- ability to identify and implement strategy to reach an inspired vision
- commitment to nurturing relationships with stakeholders and partners
- skilled negotiator of formalized partnerships
- thinking entrepreneurially
- life long learning and understanding of rural health issues
- cultivating leadership in others
- facilitating long-term planning processes and strategies developing and managing projects, staff and funds
MISSION: To support and enhance the leadership of state offices of rural health. Through this program, SORH staff will become more knowledgeable about the resources available both within state offices and throughout the rural health system. The goal of the program is to sharpen skills, improve effectiveness of strategy planning and implementation by SORH and state level leadership. The Mentoring Program is dual faceted. It will support the development of state level leadership for rural health in two ways:
- through one-to-one support of SORH leaders and/or staff and
- by supporting topical group mentoring activities at a state or regional level.
"One-to-one support" will link state office mentees with a willing SORH mentor. Funding for this support is typically granted to support travel of individual SORH directors or staff to visit another state office with expertise. The Mentoring Resources section lists SORHS (and their expertise) that can be accessed through this program.
"Topical group mentoring support" is provided to support states gaining specialized education services for the benefit of SORHs. These funds may be used to allow regions or states to engage speakers or topic experts at either state or multi-state workshops. Preference for these funds is for direct support of travel for SORH staff to educational programs. Any funds allocated for use of consultants will be subject to a designated maximum.
These funds will not be used to support the following activities:
- travel required by the ORH grant
- consulting fees for state specific projects
